Year 7 2024 entry information

Please bring: 

• A named water bottle 
• A pencil, eraser, ruler and black pen (of any type).  No calculators are permitted.  
• Any medication (epipen, inhaler etc) 

Please do ensure that all clothing and other items are named, so that we can help to reunite any items that may go astray.  

WHAT TO WEAR

We want students to feel comfortable with us during the day. Please wear home clothes, no school uniform is required.  Please do bring a warm coat as well.  

SNACKS

You do not need to send snacks in with your child as we will provide a substantial snack for them during the break. If you have any concerns, particularly in relation to allergies, do get in contact with us to discuss and we will be very happy to talk through the options with you.  However, should you wish to send your child in with a snack, please note that we are a nut free school and therefore no snacks containing any nuts may be brought onto site in any circumstances.  

If your child has a medical condition that we need to be aware of, that hasn’t been advised within the application, please contact the admissions department to ensure that we have all relevant information.  Likewise, if you have already made us aware of a medical condition but have any concerns regarding the assessment day, please do get in contact.  

We have notified our invigilators and catering team of all allergies and medical conditions advised to us. If your child uses an EPI pen or inhaler please ensure that your child brings it with them, and that it is clearly labelled with their name.  They will be permitted to keep these with them during the exam.  

If on the day your child is unwell and unable to attend on the day, please email admissions@claremont.surrey.sch.uk to advise or call on 07538 234460 to leave a message for the admissions team. 

ARRIVAL

Directions for arrival have been sent out in your invitation email – please make a careful note of the time your child has been invited to attend. Do not arrive prior to your allocated timeslot, as the timings are carefully considered to ensure smooth running of our sessions across the day.  

Claremont Fan Court School, Prep School playground  drop-off area, please use postcode KT10 9LY for Google maps or Sat nav.  

Please note that arrival and collection will be strictly via the Claremont Drive entrance only, please do not enter via the Portsmouth Road. 

The approach to the school will take you through a residential estate and golf course, leading to the school gates. On arrival you will be guided to a drop-off zone and there will be staff on hand to assist your child to exit the car. Due to the volume of cars anticipated, please ensure that your child is ready to exit. Parents are requested to remain in their cars and parking is not permitted. 

Here is a map of the location you will be dropping off/collecting from*: 

*For those children with pre-arranged access arrangements, please see the guidance below 

The children will be greeted by senior members of the school and directed to our Prep School hall for registration, where they can enjoy some time before their assessments undertaking some fun, relaxing activities before being guided to our sports hall to get ready for their assessments. Please do not worry, the activities in the Prep School hall during our breaks are not part of the assessment, they are to keep the children relaxed and help them to not worry about the tests!  

COLLECTION

At the end of the assessment session, collect the children via the same route from: Claremont Fan Court School, Prep School playground area, Please use postcode KT10 9LY for Google maps or Sat nav.  

To ensure a quick and safe collection, please display an A4 piece of paper in your windscreen with your child’s name clearly visible on it.  

For the children’s safety at collection, they will be kept in their groups by the side of the playground collection area. Please do stay in your car and your child will come to you. Children will only be guided to their parents’ car once all traffic is stationary within the drop off zone. 

Children will be guided to the sports hall by our staff to find their desk and get ready for their assessments.  The desks will be arranged in alphabetical order and the children will be encouraged and helped to find their seat. Once comfortably seated in the room, the assessment schedule will run as follows:- 

• Maths test (45 minutes) 
• Creative writing (30 minutes) 
• Break (25 minutes) 
• English comprehension (30 minutes) 
• Non-verbal reasoning (30 minutes) 

All tests are paper-based, except where specific access arrangements have been agreed and notified in advance (please see below). 

The non-verbal reasoning paper is entirely multiple choice, the English and maths have multiple choice elements to them.  

The invigilators will inform the candidates when they have 5 minutes left at the end of each test. There will also be clocks clearly visible in each room.  

Please do remind the children to read the back page of each test booklet.  Invigilators do remind students at the start of the session, but each year we do find some students do not turn over to the end!  

For those students who are eligible for access arrangements for the assessments, we have contacted you separately by email to confirm the arrangements being put in place.  

Please follow the arrival instructions above to get to the school.  The children will be met by our team at the Mansion steps and guided to their assessment rooms. A map below highlights the drop off zone:- 

The times listed above are for the standard time assessments. For those students we have contacted to confirm additional time is being provided, a further 25% additional time will be added to all tests except the non-verbal reasoning.  

For those students who are using a laptop for their creative writing assessment, the school will provide this during the assessment.  

Those students who have been confirmed as using a reading pen for the assessments are required to bring the pen with them, fully charged and with headphones as appropriate, on the day.  

We will be emailing all parents with the outcomes of the academic assessment and to confirm if we are taking your application forward to the interview stage on Thursday 4 January 2024.  

Those students being invited for interview will be advised of their interview date and time in this email.  Interviews will be taking place between Tuesday 9 and Saturday 13 January 2024. Please do make a note of these dates in your diary.  

Scholarship assessments will also take place during the interview period – further details will be sent out to those coming for scholarship assessment separately in early January. 

Like all local independent schools, we wish to conduct a fair and supportive assessment, but there will inevitably be some disappointed applicants given that this is a competitive process.  Please note that we do not provide feedback or enter into discussion about performance in the assessment. 

Letters from the headmaster with offers of places and scholarship outcomes will be both emailed and posted to families by the close of business on Friday 2 February 2024.